Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Jays extend Cito

TORONTO – The Blue Jays reached an agreement on a two-year contract extension for manager Cito Gaston on Thursday afternoon, keeping him at the helm through the 2010 season. Toronto did not disclose the financial terms of Gaston’s new deal.

After an 11-year absence from the manager’s seat, the 64-year-old Gaston was named the Blue Jays’ manager on June 20, after the club dismissed John Gibbons. Through 84 games since Gaston’s arrivale, Toronto has posted a 48-36 record and pulled within striking distance of the American League Wild Card in early September.

Prior to joining Toronto this season, Gaston last managed the Blue Jays from 1989-97, guiding the team to consecutive World Series titles in 1992-93. Gaston, who is the first two-time manager in franchise history, owns a career managerial record of 749-685 in his time with the Blue Jays.

Toronto hasn’t announced its coaching staff for 2009, though Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said an announcement could come this weekend. Gaston has indicated that he’d like each of the Jays’ coaches to return, and those who decide to stay with the club will likely receive two-year contracts as well.

Today’s lineups:

NEW YORK (87-71) at TORONTO (83-75)at 7:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre

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15 Comments

Andrew.is right ,the Jays have to get younger,JP will not trade BJ,if he does he will look like he made another mistake by signing him in the first place,JP keeps saying he likes the team the way it is,so don’t look for too many changes this offseason.

I think as Jays fans, we need to recognize that one way or the other , we’re probably going to finish last in the AL east next year unless Rogers dumps 40-50 million in additional salary cap into the team. I don’t like it any more than anyone else, but I think it’s time to face reality. Even if that’s done, I’d suggest at best we finish 3rd.

That being said, I think the very best thing to do with this team is explode it and trade for prospects to re-build the minor league system JP was supposed to do, and look to compete again in 2011 or 2012.

I’d trade anyone and everyone on this team for the right prospects; BUT, I don’t trust Jp’s judgement to do the right deals. Rogers need to terminate JP and Godfrey and start all over again .

Yo G,
I’m confused… On one had you think JP has not done a good job of drafting and developing the minor leagues system and on the other hand, you think Snider, Arencibia, Purcey, Cecil etc. are going to be dominant players in this league. So which is it?

rmatty-why don’t you compare the number of kids we developed to TB and then look at the standings. We’re in 4th place. 7 years after JP starts and we’re in 4th place. If you’re happy with that be my guest and rave about JP.

No i’m not happy about where we are compared to TB in the standings. But I would not be a Rays fan after 10 years of being the worst team EVER!!! Would you be a Jays fan if they finished last every year to garner those draft picks?

TB was bound to turn it around eventually considering they pick 1st in nearly every draft. Wait for TB to trade all their good players as soon as their contracts are up and then guess what…. They will be awful again. They don’t have the money or the fan support to pay these guys so one good year maybe another one next year and that’s it.

Considering TB started in 1998 to first place in the AL east in 2008, I don’t think they’ve done that bad. I expect them to be a factor for quite some time. Since Stuart Sternberg took over as managing partner in 2004, this team has been well run. A number of the young players are signed long term and theres more talent on the way. By the way they don’t have to pay Vernon Wells $23 mill per year, in two years time-we do-so who’s made the better decisions, it certainly isn’t us.

And to answer your question, I’d rather finish last for a few years, in order to have a chance at winning, since we’ve done done nothing but finish no higher than 3rd or 4th ( except one year) since 1993-some 15 years of mediocrity-with no end in sight.

What is a joke, is TB’s fan support, but I’d expect if it doesn’t improve shorlly, they’ll move.

I wouldn’t put up with how bad TB was just for possibly 3 great seasons. I can barely watch meaningless games as it is, so if the Jays were Tampa I would’ve been so disinterested by this year that I’d probably be rooting for another team like New York or Boston. That’s just me though.

JP is not my first choice as GM,but hasn’t done as bad as some think.FACE THE FACTS:The reason this club is having October off is the way the hit with RISP in April/June.They simply as Doc put it “we undeachieved at times” The difference between TB and the Jays this season:Tampa hit in the clutch when they needed to.You can’t argue it , if the Jays played .500 ball in April and June things would be different today.

gsjays
I understand what your getting at.However,this season there is no excuses.There were times , especially in April and June where the hitting simply didn’t get it done period. You can talk all you want about years past but at the end of the day all that matters is now.This season JP made some moves I also thought sucked but didn’t in the end cost a trip to the post season.The lack of hitting with runners in scoring pos. by professional players who are being well paid to do so just didn’t perform.Now that Cito is in charge ,holes need to be filled but lets see what this team can do under a full year of Cito.JP’s biggest mistake is trying to run the dugout but that has all changed with the hiring of Cito.

terence
This year still hangs around JP’s neck. He picked Denbro as hitting coach who stressed OBP over anything else.

When one looks at the future, you have to look at past records for performance and nothing I see tells me things are going to change all that much. I am a Cito fan, I just don’t think we have the horses.

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